KCET Orange
Results of studies conducted by KCET showed great differences between the programming needs of Orange County and Los Angeles County viewers, noted Anthony Fellow, chair and professor of communications. “Orange County viewers appear to want more entertainment and cultural programs,” Fellow said. “Los Angeles County viewers want documentaries and public affairs programs. KCET Orange will be able to zone programming to meet the needs of both.”
Jerome agreed, saying that the station and the university will “learn to walk together.”
“We want to tap into faculty ideas and enthusiasm, the artistic and cultural, people and institutions of Orange County,” Jerome said. “The station will have news and information specifically for Orange County.”
He noted that Judith Anderson, CSUF executive vice president, is head of the Orange County Forum 2007, addressing the work of many corporations and nonprofits as well as philanthropic trends in Orange County–something that gives the university key knowledge about specific, interesting trends that could influence KCET Orange programming.
Faculty, of course, stand to benefit as KCET programming gets under way, with faculty-student research and projects some of the topics of interest for possible television broadcasting. “I see many possibilities for joint adventures,” said Roberta Rikli, dean of the college of health and human development, “especially related to dissemination of knowledge about important health issues, health information seminars, etc.… In addition
to health issues, other topics of interest could be any number of ‘social and human development issues’ since we also house programs in child and adolescent development, social work, human services and counseling – in addition to our more health-related programs in health science, public health, nursing, and kinesiology.”
KCET Orange will also include an educational component incorporating internships and programs to help prepare students for futures in public broadcasting. In fact, students such as junior Peter Martinez are already interning at KCET studios in Los Angeles (see accompanying story), and more opportunities will be available to additional students as the partnership grows.
“The KCET partnership creates enthusiasm and energy on campus, especially among faculty and students in our Radio-TV-Film and Communications Departments,” said Fred Zandpour, associate dean of the College of Communications. “The two departments can certainly benefit from KCET expertise and programming opportunities in educating the media professionals of tomorrow.”
